A Closer Look: Conservation of Paintings
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Behind the scenes in Conservation
Cleaning the 'lost altarpiece'
Britta New and Nelly von Aderkas discuss the cleaning of a Renaissance altarpiece that was hidden in an Italian wood store for many years
Matteo di Giovanni’s 'Assumption of the Virgin' is one of the greatest surviving Sienese paintings of the Renaissance. Remarkably, it was discovered in the wood store of the Augustinian monastery of Sant'Agostino at Asciano, near Siena, in the 19th century.
Join Conservator Britta New and Scientist Nelly von Aderkas as they discuss the challenges of cleaning the altarpiece:
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With thanks
The cleaning of Matteo di Giovanni's 'Assumption of the Virgin' is a collaboration across departments at the National Gallery.
With thanks to Britta New and Kendall Francis of the Conservation Department, and Nelly von Aderkas and Helen Howard of the Scientific Department.
About the altarpiece
Read about the research into the altarpiece and its reconstruction in the article, Reconstructing the Renaissance: Matteo di Giovanni’s lost altarpiece for Sant’Agostino, Asciano (2013)
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Watch previous episodes in the series:
Behind the scenes in Conservation
The unfashionable artist who inspired Van Gogh
Kristina Mandy discusses Adolphe Monticelli, an artist admired in his lifetime, who inspired Van Gogh's famous 'Sunflowers', but who later fell out of fashion
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring an 'undisplayable' painting: Part two
Kendall Francis and Larry Keith discuss the restoration of a work with a 'snowstorm' of painting loss
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Larry Keith reveals an exciting discovery about Piazzetta's unfinished work, 'The Sacrifice of Isaac', and explains the plan for the painting's restoration
Behind the scenes in Conservation
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Kristina Mandy shows the steps involved in restoring a painting that is over 750-years-old
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring Botticelli's 'Adoration of the Kings': Part one
Jill Dunkerton and Britta New find out what was hiding beneath a frame for nearly two centuries
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring Botticelli's 'Adoration of the Kings': Part two
Watch Jill Dunkerton as she retouches a Renaissance masterpiece
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring Botticelli's 'Adoration of the Kings': Part three
Jill Dunkerton and Marta Melchiorre ask, how can we identify Botticelli's hand from that of his assistant, Filippino Lippi's?
Behind the scenes in Conservation
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Behind the scenes in Conservation
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Find out what Larry Keith discovered when he removed 75 years’ worth of discoloured varnish from Rubens’s 'Het Steen'
Behind the scenes in Conservation
A structural repair of Rubens's 'Het Steen'
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Behind the scenes in Conservation
Retouching Rubens's 'Het Steen'
After months of restoration, Larry Keith unveils the newly retouched 'Het Steen' in the Conservation Studio